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Snapchat

  • Snapchat debuts dope new lenses for rear-facing camera

    By on 19 April, 2017

    Snapchat is here to fight everyone who still thinks its platform is just for selfies and disappearing nudes. It's a cool, interesting way to communicate the world around you and it's just launched a new feature to prove it. Dubbed "World Lenses," the feature consists of 3D animations for the rear-facing camera to bring the extra to an ordinary world. Users using the rear camera need only tap on the screen once and the familiar menu of filters appears. As of writing, filters include a discoing mushroom, 3D phrases of the "meh," "YOLO," and "STFU" calibre, an emoji rainbow and rain cloud,...

  • Your move, Facebook: content search comes to Snapchat Stories

    By on 3 April, 2017

    If you were paying close attention Friday, you may have felt a slight shift in breeze from the direction of Silicon Valley. This wasn't the result of climate change -- it was the collective sigh of all Facebook employees who just got the Snapchat clone up and running, only for Snap to update its Stories game yet again. On Friday, Snap announced that it was rolling out a feature that took Our Story and made it more accessible. Before, the feature was once-off and strictly vetted, allowing users to add their snaps to Our Story in the hopes that moderators would...

  • Snap’s Bitmoji was one of the fastest growing apps of 2016

    By on 27 March, 2017

    When you live with a nineteen-year-old first year, you hear about things like Friendmojis. You hear complaints about the fact that their avatar can only hang out with one friend's animated character at a time. So you become aware of the popularity the app has with people who have multiple friends (a strange concept). It's unsurprising that an app that lets you create a Lizzie McGuire-esque animated version of yourself is popular with millenials. But Bitmoji's popularity is staggering. The Snapchat-owned app is only two and a half years old, and according to a new report by comScore, it's growing even faster in the US...

  • Snap closes IPO on a high, but will it last?

    By on 3 March, 2017

    Snapchat's parent company Snap ended its debut on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday with shares at US$24.48 a pop. With the IPO price of US$17, people who bought shares yesterday saw a 44% premium -- a significant achievement considering most companies price their IPOs for an expected 20% increase. But this first day success does not necessarily mean the company is set for a happy ending. Many have been drawing comparisons between Snap's IPO and Twitter's. The latter finished its first day with a gain of 72.69%, but the following months proved rocky. Facebook, on the other hand, closed its IPO...

  • Introducing Snapchat, the new frontier in storytelling

    By on 9 February, 2017

    Most people know Snapchat as the social network for watching people you only slightly care about play around with filters you really don't care about. While that may be all some people see, young innovators are recognising it as a platform to tell stories. Because, heck, that's what the feature is called, right? The first ever Snapchat movie premiered in June last year. Sickhouse was sadistically conceived by Hannah Macpherson, who saw an opportunity to merge creation and distribution methods in one foul swoop. Pairing up with YouTuber Andrea Russett, Macpherson used the social media starlet's Snapchat account to slowly lure...

  • Snapchat IPO: 6 more things you should know

    By on 3 February, 2017

    Snap Inc's IPO filing was made public overnight, revealing a variety of details surrounding Snapchat's operations. For one, we know that the firm hasn't made a profit in 2015 and 2016 (although it's quickly catching up), then there's the claim of 158 million daily active users. But what else do the documents tell us? Yes, Snapchat's prioritising iOS Many Android users have long held that Snapchat didn't pay enough attention to the Google platform -- something the company admitted in the filing. "The majority of our user engagement is on smartphones with iOS operating systems. As a result, although our products work with...

  • Snapchat IPO: the key figures revealed

    By on 3 February, 2017

    Snap Inc. filed a confidential initial public offering (IPO) with the Securities and Exchange Commission last year, leaving many to wonder about the details. But now, the house of Snapchat has raised the curtain on aspects of the deal. The IPO could value the company at up to US$25-billion, the Wall Street Journal reported. "Snap Inc. is a camera company. We believe that reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate," read an excerpt of founder Evan Spiegel's letter in the filing. "Our products empower people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about...

  • Facebook Stories will soon let you ‘Snapchat’ from your Facebook app

    By on 26 January, 2017

    Facebook has already implemented a rehashed version of Snapchat Stories on Instagram. But it hasn't yet bolted on the feature to its flaship app. Until now, that is. The social network has announced that Facebook Stories is now a thing on its Android and iOS app, and yes, it works almost exactly like Snapchat and Instagram Stories (pictured). Users can scroll through a horizontal list of Stories located at the top of the app's screen (just below the notifications and search bar). It's almost visually identical to Instagram Stories too, and will let users share ephemeral videos and snaps that will...

  • Snapchat joins Facebook, Google in purging fake news from its network

    By on 24 January, 2017

    Snapchat is the latest social network to take a stand against fake news, clickbait and "sensitive content", according to a new report by the New York Times. The social network, which updated its guidelines Monday, now forbids companies enrolled to its Discover programme to post questionable content to their channels. This includes clickbait, "overtly sexualised" content, and profanity. The network's Discover programme currently houses channels from the likes of National Geographic, People, Yahoo! and MTV. Snapchat's new guidelines also guard against Discover channels from "including reports or links to outside websites that could be considered fake news". Ultimately, the changes are in a...

  • Snapchat’s interface becomes human-friendly with universal search bar

    By on 13 January, 2017

    There are a few reasons why Snapchat is an absolute painful experience for many. For one, the app's actual user interaction elements like buttons and gestures are vague and confusing. And it doesn't end there. It's also extremely difficult to find content within the app itself. But this could be about to change. According to a TechCrunch report, Snapchat has unveiled a new universal search bar,that spans the top of each and every page on the app. This means that users -- even if they aren't too sure where they are within the app -- can search for friends, specific Stories...

  • Did Snapchat inflate its user numbers for IPO?

    By on 6 January, 2017

    A former Snapchat employee has claimed that the company lied about its user growth figures in a bid to boost its valuation. Anthony Pompliano filed a lawsuit (h/t: Yahoo) against Snapchat parent company Snap for wrongful termination, having lasted just three weeks at the company. Pompliano's legal representatives claim that the company was "falsely representing" user growth statistics to investors and trading partners, going so far as to call it an "institutional pandemic". The ex-employee says that he informed several key figures, including Drew Boller (Snapchat's vice-president of finance), Jill Hazelbaker (vice-president of communications) and Brian Theisen (director of business operations). "These efforts, which should...

  • Adult Swim, more coming to Snapchat thanks to Turner deal

    By on 8 December, 2016

    Snapchat took one big step to becoming the next social media TV platform, with a penned deal between its owner Snap Inc, and media giant Turner. The global media corporation and the social internet company will now work together to bring "new brands to Snapchat's Discover platform, extending live coverage of Turner's premium sports events, and working with several Turner brands to develop Snapchat shows", Turner announced on its press site. The deal between Snap and Turner will cover content, content distribution and advertising, and will give Turner access to Snapchat's front page, or its Discover tab. Snapchat and Turner will produce...

  • WTF are Snapchat Spectacles?

    By on 11 November, 2016

    If you haven't a clue what Snapchat Spectacles are, don't worry. We had a similar debate in the office whether to publish this piece on Gearburn or Memeburn. But luckily, the social outweighed the gadgetry. We also imagine that this is exactly what Snapchat (or its parent company, now known as Snap) wanted too. Debuting on 10 November 2016 (just in time for people to get over the US Elections), Snapchat Spectacles is the company's jovial answer to smart wearables like Google Glass and Microsoft HoloLens. But it's much simpler than those devices. In fact, these US$130 sunglasses do two things...

  • Here’s why Snapchat is Snapchat’s own worst enemy

    By on 27 October, 2016

    It's tough to think of another mobile platform that's enjoyed as much success in as short a time as Snapchat. The service has managed to successfully shed its early reputation as sexting platform number one. In the process, it's transformed into a service that prides itself on being a platform for authentic media-sharing. Who needs carefully shot, crystal clear DSLR snaps when spur-of-the-moment, blurry shots can feel more intimate? Who cares about smooth, 4K video clips when shaky footage happening right now feels more authentic? Or at least that's the thinking... As a result of the app's live nature, it's quickly become a social media icon alongside...

  • Kansas City Diaries: can brands beat Snapchat at its own game?

    By on 24 October, 2016

    Kansas City Diaries is an exclusive article series by Natalie Pool as she goes undercover at VML's global agency headquarters in Kansas City, USA, to find out how organic search, Snapchat and other technologies are changing the advertising and marketing industry. Snapchat is not what you’d call a brand-friendly platform. In fact, it actively discourages brands from creating organic content and makes it purposefully difficult for users to find you (unless you’re Kylie Jenner, arguably the biggest brand on Snapchat right now). And without reporting metrics for organic content, it’s tricky (but not impossible) for agencies to prove its value...